Council Steps Up Importance of Contractor Performance in Proposed Rule Change

September 7, 2012

The Federal Acquisition Regulation Council has designed a more structured approach for federal procurement officials to document a company's performance on a contract, with definitions and all. The proposal, one expert said, should be taken as a message from federal regulators to procurement officers.

That message: “By virtue of bringing this issue up again, the FAR Council is really saying that they expect past performance to be a more serious and consistent evaluation factor than previously,” said Larry Allen, president of the Allen Federal Business Partners.

The proposal essentially takes the rules that are already on the books and attempts to strengthen them, Allen said.

The FAR Council has proposed, among other changes, adding two tables for past performance evaluations. One defines general evaluation definitions for a company's work and the other charts small-business subcontracting. The evaluation ratings definitions are based on guidance provided in the Defense Department’s Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System policy guide.